I heart Life:Rearranged.

Meet Jeannett. My blog friend turned real life friend. She lives to give, to encourage, and is leaving a beautiful legacy in so many ways. He blog is full of the everyday to the extraordinary. Her heart breaks for what is broken in the world. She is so my people. She couldn't sit by and do nothing when she found out the plight of sweet Cliff, a young orphan in Eastern Europe who markedly deserves a family. She has used her passion to be his Christmas warrior through Reece's Rainbow and has raised over $7,000 for his adoption fund. Please read Cliff's story, and join in her Great $1 Push to help reach his adoption fund goal. While you are there, you could enter to win a Silhouette machine too. Yay!

I stood watching a man open up a closet door, shoving the contents aside as he quickly sized up whether he might make use of them or not.
As I made my way through the narrow hallway to take a look myself, I noticed a fancy ball gown amid the winter coats and polyester pants.
All bedazzled in sequins and gold lame.
And I wondered:
Where did the owner wear this?
I could picture her…smoothing out the ruffles…adjusting her perfectly coiffed hair…re-applying her lipstick…adding another coat of mascara…surveying herself in the mirror.
Did she feel beautiful in it?
Did she have fun that night? Was it all she had hoped?
Did her husband whistle in approval?
Dancing and laughing.
Feeling gorgeous in her fancy gown.
And when she came home, she undressed and hung it up.
In this closet.
On that very hanger.
And through the years she kept that dress.
Even if she no longer fit into it.
Because in that noisy, swishing fabric lay precious memories.
And now…
Years later..
she is dead.
The dress is nothing more than a gaudy item at a Saturday morning Estate Sale.
Shoved aside by strangers.
Considered ugly and dated now.
Not even worth the $1 price tag dangling from the sleeve.
And as I wandered the house…a roof and walls that once was a home…
Surveying the treasures.
Collections painstakingly accumulated.
Knick knacks and bright orange lamps.
900 old records in dusty boxes.
Amber colored mugs and avocado hued Pyrex dishes.
A garage filled with tools that would make Sears envious.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
Gone.
Forever.
All these things..
left behind.
For strangers to pick over like vultures.
Haggling over 50 cents.
Unaware of their value once upon a time.
And I stood, tears in my eyes, against a wall.
Watching.
My mortality in stark view.
How this will surely be my home someday.
My kitchen cupboards being rummaged through.
My prized decorations.
My dresses and coats.
My candlesticks and vases.
Going home in foreign hands for pennies.
And I realized…
In the middle of a dead stranger’s home...
That none of it matters.
Not one bit of it.
My things…are things.
Left behind and completely and utterly meaningless.
And in that moment, in a stuffy, strange house I was reminded
Of God's Holiness.
That my pretty Pottery Barn serving dishes…
My Stainless Steel appliances…
Even my beloved Le Creuset collection…
DOESN’T MATTER.
It will all stay here. It will be sold off or donated.
But what will remain is not tangible or easily held in the palm of a hand.
What stays behind is not something that can be sold for $3 on a sunny morning.
What I want to leave here is different and much more precious.
I want to spend my limited days here…
Giving.Loving.Serving.
Praising.
Mightily and until it hurts.
This is not to say that I will sell all of my possessions tomorrow and move to a hut in the jungle.
No.
I will continue to collect beautiful things.
I will always have a soft spot for fancy cookware.

I still bought a $3 footed dessert plate.
But these things will always take a backseat to sharing Christ’s love and the blessings I have been doled out with an overflowing hand.
Nicole Nordeman’s song Legacy holds new and poignant meaning:
I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace
Who blessed Your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacyWhat will your legacy be?Are you living it NOW?What are you waiting for?

16 Comments

Wow. Great post! I'm reading Radical by David Platt right now and the last part of your post really speaks to what I've been working through- being willing to give up your worldly possessions for the God who offers us eternal treasures. Thanks for reinforcing this truth in my life!

Very awesome. I've been wanting to pen for a long time how I feel when I go to estate sales. How it feels to get life put back into the right perspective. How simultaneously sad and empowering it is to know that we will leave all of our things behind.Thanks for regurgitating the words I never could.

And you are SO right, things are just that. We can't take them with us. Christ's love is something we can share and will last forever and ever. That should be everyone's legacy. Thank you for the reminder!

I also have felt that same way at estate sales. I am hoping that my kids will all want my things instead of selling them at an estate sale. :)I am also currently reading David Platt's book "Radical" and I have been very convicted to not let things get in the way.You are a very talented writer . . . you always make me feel like I am right with you experiencing what you are experiencing. Keep writing . . .

You are such a beautifully,amazing writer and servant of our Lord. I love to read your blog. For someone so young you have so much wisdom. I can see why my beautiful daughter is your friend(Heather G. of your Holla girls). It is so true that "stuff" is just that and I too relate to the song "Legacy".Your legacy is most certain a one of love, grace and compassion. May God continue to bless you always. Love,Teri... Heather's Mom

Wow. Jeannett - you always have such a way with words. I have actually never been to an Estate Sale ... and for this very reason. I don't know how I'd feel walking into the dusty remains of someone's personal life... and watching random people (or myself) dismantling it piece by piece. But, yes. These are just things. and... love that song - one of my faves. Great reminder, Jeannett. Great reminder.

Legacy, we just used that song at my sisters memorial service, and I keep hearing it everywhere I go, makes me cry every time.... It has such great words and is a great reminder of how to truly live......and what a heart you friend has for those in need, for little cliff, thanks for posting this

Wonderful post. I spent some time recently on the Reece's Rainbow sight and just felt so many emotions ... too many to state here. What a heroic thing your friend is doing for that sweet little boy! And yes, the estate sale ... your words are right one. God loves to give us good things and wants us to enjoy the "special" in the world ... we are so created in His image that way. He loves beauty and so do we ... we just, of course, have, in our sinfulness, great difficulty in not loving them rightly at times. I'm going to pray about my heart and that God will continue to press upon it that I leave a rightful legacy to my children's children. Love that song, by the way:). To God be the Glory.